by

Railway Industry in France

TGV 1

1. Industry Overview:

In France, one of the most popular transport modes is train.  SNCF is France’s national railway, providing high speed, overnight and local services in France and beyond into Spain, Switzerland and Italy.

>> http://www.tgv-europe.com/en

Types of Train in France:

01-TGV

02-Lunea

03-Teoz

04-TER

06-Intercites

Railway industry is quite similar to airline industry, as it sells seats for a transport from an origin to a destination. The price depends on journey, class, and date of booking. Thus, railway industry can be placed in Quadrant 2, where its service has variable prices for a predictable duration. This industry also has the appropriate characteristics to apply revenue management strategies. Those characteristics are:

– Inflexible capacity: the number of seats on a train is fixed

– Variable and uncertain demand: the demand is different depending on the time of day, day of week, origin-destination pairs, and purpose of travel

– Perishable inventory: the unoccupied seat cannot be inventoried, and the revenue of that seat is missed

– Low marginal cost and high production cost

– Product can be sold in advance

– Heterogeneous customers with different segments, varying by age, purpose of travel, independent or group, etc.

However, there are some differences that make the revenue management of railway industry is little bit different than that of airline industry.

– More difficult to forecast demand and to have the accurate number of travelers on a service: no check-in procedure, open tickets (rail pass) generally allow passengers to travel on any rail service, walk up tickets are very common (a large number of passengers purchase their tickets on the day from the station)

– Less difficult to deal with overbooking: passengers are often allowed to stand during train journeys hence increasing capacity beyond the number of seats

———

 2. Space

Railway industry defines space implicitly.

Normally, a train has two classes: Economy (2nd Class) and Comfort (1st Class). The seating options and services are different for each class. The price is same for different seating options in a class.

 Economy Class:
01-Class2
 Comfort Class:

01-Class 1

Trains, especially TGV has “TGV bar”, which provides a wide selection of meals and sweet snacks available for purchase. Additionally, the TGV bar offers films on DVD, magazines, games for children, Paris Metro tickets, even USB sticks for purchase. There is also a rolling snack cart that comes to the customers’ seats.

01-TGV Bar

For additional revenue, TGV offers Premium service includes 1st Class seat, meal service, and access to the TGV lounge at the train stations.

Personally, I would charge difference fares for different seating options in each class. A group will want to pay more to have a Club 4 seat. A couple will want the Duo seat or Club 2 seat. And an individual traveler will want a solo seat. As the number of seat are fixed, we can charge for each option, rather than a “first comes first served” policy.

I’m also thinking about a mini-cinema on train, especially overnight train. Normally, the overnight train have load factor less than 80%, so the train can use one car to transform into a mini-cinema with a projector and a screen. When the train is busy, the car will be transformed in normal guest car again.

——

3. Time

Railway industry defines time implicitly.

Although the duration of a journey is determined, the railway industry sells a journey rather than specifically selling time. In addition, there may be issues that cause the increase/decrease in duration of the journey.

However, the railway industry also tries to sell time explicitly with the Rail pass. With Rail pass, customers can have unlimited travel on the national rail network of France for a fixed number of days. The choices are 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9-day pass within a one-month period. Travel days may be used consecutively or non-consecutively.  Thus, the fare becomes rate-per-day, not anymore rate-per-trip.

>> http://www.raileurope.com/rail-tickets-passes/france-pass/index.html

The industry can sell time explicitly by providing Rail pass with weekly or monthly unit. However, I think it will not be effective as it makes the demand forecasting much more complicated.  Half-day unit won’t make sense as a trip is normally more than 3 hours.

——–

4. Price

Tickets can be purchased 60 to 120 days in advance depending on the route.

Ticket discounts are based on advance purchase, availability, and certain restrictions. Everyone is eligible to receive discounted fares by purchasing an Economy or Comfort class ticket in advance. Youth and seniors can enjoy specific discounts as well. Discounted tickets are available for youth (under 26 of age), seniors (age 60 and over) and children (generally ages 4-11) but should be verified with each product.

Price at 1 week before departure
01-Price-1st class-10AM-1wk

Price at 2 weeks before departure

01-Price-1st class-10AM-2wk

Price at 3 weeks before departure

01-Price-1st class-10AM-3wk

Price at 4 weeks before departure

01-Price-1st class-10AM-4wk

Normally, prices are reduced for 1or 2 week-advanced purchase, slightly reduced for 3-week-advanced purchased, and stay same for more-than-4-week-advanced purchase.

The physical rate fences are the classes:
01-Booking-Class

 

The non-physical rate fences are age, season ticket, and loyalty

01-Booking-Rate Fences-1

01-Booking-Rate Fences-2

01-Booking-Rate Fences-3

01-Booking-Rate Fences-4

As the rate fences are now already too sophisticated, I would rather consolidate these fences than create new fences to confuse customers.

 

(-Thao Ly)

——–

References:

http://www.raileurope.com

http://www.tgv-europe.com

http://www.sncf.co.uk/

Amstrong and Messneir, 2010. Railway revenue management: Overview and Methods

Schroeder, Braun, and Schnieder. Revenue management in the railway industry

 

206,405 thoughts on “Railway Industry in France”

  1. Great post however , I was wanting to know if you could write a litte more on this subject? I’d be very thankful if you could elaborate a little bit further. Bless you! klaviyo experts

  2. 훌륭한 읽기, 긍정적 인 사이트,이 게시물에 대한 정보를 어디서 얻었습니까? 지금 귀하의 웹 사이트에서 몇 가지 기사를 읽었으며 귀하의 스타일이 정말 마음에 듭니다. 백만명에게 감사하고 효과적인 작업을 계속하십시오. 보증놀이터

  5. I definitely enjoying every little bit of it. It is a great website and nice share. I want to thank you. Good job! You guys do a great blog, and have some great contents. Keep up the good work Wireless Penetration Testing Phising.

  7. Betgram giriş yaptıktan sonra, kullanıcılara geniş bir bahis seçeneği sunar. Betgram, farklı spor dallarında ve diğer oyun kategorilerinde bahis yapma imkanı sağlar.

  8. It a fabulous blog post As i looked at caused by have the application. Advise everything that Need be to find expectation on potential future you certainly will persist designed for writing a great wonderful blog post. pet proof fabric

  9. sourdough discard recipes
    Sourdough Discard Cinnamon Rolls: If you’ve been nurturing a sourdough starter and find yourself with extra discard on hand, these Sourdough Discard Cinnamon Rolls are the perfect solution for you. Get ready to transform that discard into a heavenly, aromatic breakfast treat or evening dessert. With this easy-to-follow recipe, you’ll be able to create fluffy, sourdough and cinnamon-infused rolls that are sure to become a favorite in your household.

  11. +917439772956 Kolkata Escorts | Call Girls in Kolkata Escorts Service Girlfriend Experience Online 24/7

  14. I am very glad to know that your site is upgrading from the with simplest to more faster and synchronized form. I am quite familiar of a lot of sites since I work as a freelance writer and one of the sites that I find evolve is your site respectively. Verhuislift Amsterdam

  29. Experience the epitome of online gaming excellence with M88 Asia, your trusted companion for exhilarating gameplay. With the latest M88 Link Alternatif Terbaru 2024, accessing your favorite games is easier than ever. Join the excitement today by logging in to M88, registering for a new account, and exploring the captivating realm of M88 slot gacor. Website: m88 alternatif

  31. When I originally commented I clicked the -Notify me when new surveys are added- checkbox now whenever a comment is added I get four emails with the same comment. Could there be however you may get rid of me from that service? Thanks! Verhuislift Amsterdam

  32. Your own songs is actually incredible. You’ve a few really gifted designers. We desire a person the very best associated with achievement. slotsaja

  35. BizzeIdeasNews: Your Ultimate Source for Innovative Business Trends” – Dive into the latest happenings in the business world with BizzeIdeasNews. bizzeideasnews

  36. Immigration lawyers
    Unlock Your Path To A New Beginning – UK Immigration Help Made Easy.
    7 Day Visa Turnaround Service
    UK National Offices
    24/7 Customer Helpline 0808 303 4667
    5 Star Reviews
    Fixed Fee Pricing.

  37. You are very cool! I dont suppose I have read something similar to this before. So nice to search out somebody with authentic applying for grants this subject. I really appreciate starting this up. Your website is one area that is needed on the net. Totally a helpful project for bringing new things for the web! savefrom net instagram

  41. Column stills play more than an instrumental role in spirit production – they form the backbone and shape the character, flavor and quality of spirits we enjoy every day.
    Column Still

  42. I and also my buddies were found to be reviewing the excellent tips and tricks on your site and so suddenly I got an awful suspicion I never expressed respect to the web site owner for those tips. All the young boys were as a consequence excited to study all of them and have absolutely been taking advantage of them. We appreciate you getting so helpful and then for figuring out these kinds of ideal subject matter millions of individuals are really eager to discover. Our own sincere apologies for not saying thanks to you sooner. Verhuislift Amsterdam

  47. I just wanted to send a quick note so as to say thanks to you for those amazing advice you are showing on this site. My time intensive internet investigation has at the end of the day been honored with excellent concept to talk about with my contacts. I ‘d express that most of us website visitors are extremely blessed to live in a remarkable place with so many wonderful individuals with beneficial things. I feel very fortunate to have used your weblog and look forward to so many more pleasurable times reading here. Thanks a lot once again for a lot of things. Verhuislift Amsterdam

  49. Sensa138
    situs game online paling terkenal. saya main dari 2018 sampai sekarang masi belum bosan. game nya sangat menarik dan menghibur. saya main setiap hari ternyata bisa menghasil kan ini game.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *